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China Confirms Test of Anti-Satellite Weapon

BEIJING, Jan. 23 – The Chinese government confirmed today that it had conducted a successful test of a new anti-satellite weapon, but said it had no intention of participating in a "space race."

The confirmation, made at a regular press briefing of the foreign ministry, came 12 days after China used a medium-range ballistic missile to destroy its own weather satellite 535 miles above the earth. Several nations, including the United States, Japan, Britain and Australia, had pressed Beijing to explain the test, apparently the first successful destruction of a satellite in orbit for more than 20 years.

Despite numerous press reports last week that quoted Bush administration officials describing the exercise in detail, Chinese officials had declined to confirm or deny whether it had occurred. Liu Jianchao, the foreign ministry spokesman, issued the first official comment on the matter today.

"This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country," he said.

"What needs to be stressed is that China has always advocated the peaceful use of space, opposes the weaponization of space and an arms race in space," he said. "China has never participated and will never participate in any arms race in outer space."

Mr. Liu did not say why the Second Artillery Battalion of the People's Liberation Army had conducted the test. He also did not directly address concerns that the use of kinetic force to shatter a satellite in low-earth orbit might be perceived as inconsistent with China's repeated calls to ban the use of weapons in space.

Beijing's prolonged silence about the test, which American intelligence officials said took place on Jan. 11, raised speculation about its intentions and the circumstances surrounding the test.

Senior Bush administration officials raised the possibility that the blackout of information may have reflected the autonomy and isolation of China's military. They said they could not be sure that President Hu Jintao, who oversees the military as well as the ruling Communist Party, had personally authorized or overseen the test.

Mr. Liu denied today that officials had taken too much time before speaking publicly.

"China has nothing to hide," he said. "After various parties expressed concerns, we explained this test in outer space to them."

Japanese and American officials say that China did not volunteer any information about the test until they had made formal diplomatic inquiries, and then it took at least four days to get a reply. They said that raised concerns about the ability or the willingness of the leadership to respond in timely fashion when Chinese military actions are perceived abroad as threatening.

The first confirmation apparently came when Christopher Hill, an assistant secretary of state, visited his Chinese counterparts in Beijing over the weekend to discuss efforts to revive six-nation negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Sean McCormack, the state department spokesman, said on Monday that Chinese officials had acknowledged that the test had taken place, and that Mr. Hill had been assured that it "was not meant as a threat against anybody."

Independent experts on the Chinese military say that China has sought a workable anti-satellite weapon since the 1980s. It has experimented with the use of lasers as well as kinetic force, such as missiles or other satellites, to disable or destroy satellites in orbit.

One reason is that the United States military depends heavily on satellites for missile guidance, navigation and communications, and any widespread damage to this infrastructure could hamper military action overseas.

China has long feared that the United States might intervene in any military conflict with Taiwan, and has invested heavily in new arms that experts say are geared toward giving it the power to attack Taiwan while keeping American forces at bay.

But others say China's intentions in conducting this test may have been more diplomatic in nature, designed to pressure the United States to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space.

Russia and China have pressed for the international treaty that would limit the use of space for military purposes. The Bush administration has declined to participate in such talks.

Over the summer, President Bush authorized a new space policy that seeks to preserve "freedom of action" in space, and he said that the United States reserves the right to use force against countries that seek to disrupt American satellites.

Xu Guangyu, a former Chinese army officer and an official at the government-run China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the anti-satellite test amounted to an attempt to redefine the "rules of the game" and bring the United States to the negotiating table.

"What China is saying is, "let's sit down and talk,"" Mr. Xu said. "There is a trend toward weaponization of space that no one, especially China, wants to see."

He criticized the Bush administration for declining to join international negotiations on the issue. He said the United States and the former Soviet Union first used anti-satellite weapons in the 1980s, and that China was not doing anything new.

"It is purely catch up," he said. "Our policy of using space for peaceful purposes absolutely has not changed."

China has rapidly become the world's third major space power, after Russia and the United States. In 2003, a Chinese astronaut circled the earth in a space vehicle. China also plans to send a robot to the moon by 2017.